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Rob Collins tapped for NRSC, sources say

The National Republican Senatorial Committee — struggling to regain its footing after a disappointing 2012 — has tapped veteran GOP operative Rob Collins to be its executive director, sources tell POLITICO.

New NRSC Chairman Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) selected Collins over two other finalists after a several-weeks-long evaluation process, the sources said.

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Neither Collins, nor the NRSC nor Moran’s office would comment on on the move, which is expected to be formally announced Friday. The post had been left vacant when Rob Jesmer left it this month for a consulting firm.

Collins’s résumé seems uniquely suited to the challenges confronting the NRSC, which lost a handful of races that appeared winnable, finished the election with $8.5 million in debt and is facing intra-party tensions and competition from outside groups that are unburdened by contribution limits.

As the NRSC and other Republican Party committees assess the path forward, one of the key issues will be how to deal with the migration of money and power to outside groups like American Action Network, which raised more than $30 million and played in five Senate races and 35 House races under Collins in 2010.

Collins landed at American Action Network after years working on campaigns and on the Hill, culminating with a stint as deputy chief of staff to Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.).

He developed a reputation as one of Washington’s sharpest minds on finding creative — and ruthless — intersections of politics, policy and fundraising.